Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Am really trading in quality of photos for the sake of story-telling. Another set of not-great shots - but kinda cool to see a dark-morph Rough-legged Hawk do its thing in the air. They don't exactly hover - but they do seem to hang there while they check the ground below for possible furry vittles.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Not award-winning by any means, but here are a couple of shots of the Long-tailed Duck (formerly Old Squaw) that spent some time on a couple of Metro area lakes a couple of weeks ago. He is in with the Common Golden eye - can you see the one low-rider in the group? You can tell they were a little ways from shore. Cool bird, though!

I really do love ducks, and Ring-necked Ducks are one of my faves. You can see the size difference in comparison to the Mallards.

This is a shot of multiple species of those ducks all moving to the lake that will be the "roost" for the night.

Friday, November 12, 2010

How about some yummy Tufted Titmouse for a grey and blustery day? These were taken in Menomonie WI earlier this fall. This is a bird whose range appears to be shifting a bit. I would love to start seeing these in the Mpls Metro area someday. They have really strong feet for hanging in trees, like Black-capped Chickadees, so a good idea to get them out of nets right away. They also have some extreme attitude hidden under that Maximum Cuteness.

Monday, November 8, 2010

I really do live a charmed life. I get to see so many cool birds, and get to hang out with cool people. This past weekend at Springbrook Nature Center banding, I learned a ton of new (to me) information about birds from Ron Refsnider, and then - we had a Brown Creeper in hand! This is not exactly a Holy Grail, but probably not far from it. Check out how tiny they really are. And then - marvel at those long nails on the toes. The bi-colored decurved beak. And the beautiful russet feathers at the base of the tail. And while we are talking about that tail - check out the sharply pointed tips. This bird promptly flew to a near-by tree trunk and hunkered against it, in the posture I am used to seeing.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Here are Frank Taylor and Bill Clark with the Rough-legged Hawk! What a great bird!

You can see the feathers down the tarsus - we made sure the band would not ever bother her in moulting or otherwise impede her.

Okay, yes - this is what it looks like. Thanks to Rick - this captures my most favorite thing to do after banding the hawks - taking in their wonderful smell. It really is something indescribable - the hawks anyway. Falcons are most musty smelling.

Last bird of the season to touch the nets - was a female Black-backed woodpecker! She unfortunately boinged out so we wouldn't have her in the hand but she was a great last bird for the season! They have only three toes, and usually follow recently burned pines. Sax Zim Bog and parts of Duluth usually report sightings in the winter. I hadn't seen one at the blind yet.

Special thanks for Frank, Rick and Chuck for their friendship, knowledge, and willingness to let me be a part of this team that is more of a family. Until next season . . . .

Monday, November 1, 2010

I will post lots more pics later. Busy day so will just post pics that Frank Taylor sent (thank you, Frank!) We didn't get lots, but we sure got a cool one - a Rough-legged came in! Also had Bill Clark come and sit with us, which was fantastic to learn all the great study work he is doing on the Harlani red-tails. More soon!